Taylor Bakken didn’t set out to become a filmmaker, there just weren’t any film classes to take. So she taught herself.

She graduated with a degree in Music Business and German, but her thesis was a “business plan” for making a movie— a quiet rebellion disguised as homework. From there, she stepped into the music world, working at the legendary First Avenue in Minneapolis. It was her first glimpse of the entertainment industry. Close enough to feel the pulse, but still just outside the frame.

Eventually, she traded the hum of amps for the glow of a movie screen. With no connections and no backup plan, she moved to Los Angeles. Temp jobs led to assistant jobs, until a stroke of luck landed her in development at Team Downey, working alongside Susan and Robert Downey Jr.

Three years in that world sharpened her instincts for story, the rhythms, the reversals, the human contradictions. She started making short films on the side, drawn to stories that blend absurdity and tenderness in equal measure. That pull led her to a new creative home with Patty Jenkins, where she continues to serve as Jenkins’s right hand.

Taylor’s work lives somewhere between the surreal and the sincere. Her films explore the strangeness of being human: darkly funny, deeply felt, and just a little off-kilter.